Automobile heater



AUTOMOBILE HEATER Filed` July 31, 1939 a 777e Y Patented Nev. 25, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,263,997 aU'roMonmE HEATER Henry J. ne N. Mecouum, chieagq, nl.

Original application January 6, 1938, Serial No.

1939, Serial N0. 287,554

4 Claims.

CII

the intake manifold of the automobile engine.

Compensation for this additional supply of gases to the intake manifold may easily be made by regulating the engine carburetor so as slightly to increase the idling speed of the engine.

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course this difficulty is encountered relatively infrequently, and only when the carburetor is very delicately adjusted to the needs of the engine.

In accordance with my invention, I provide means, controlledincidental to the operation of the heater control, for securing more uniform- It is thus an object of my invention to provide an improved form of automobile heater having means for securing uniform operation of the engine irrespective of Whether or not the heater is operating.

It is a further object of my invention to provide an improved means for automatically changing the idling adjustment of the engine carburetor whenever the heater is placed in operation.

Other objects will appear from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which shows a heater in frag- .voir for liquid fuel.

Divided and this application July 31,

degree of vacuum in the intake manifold. This nozzle communicates with a passageway 26 in the casting I2 to which a fitting 28 is connected, the latter being connected by ahonduit 30 with the intake manifold 32 of the engine. A valve 34 is engageable with the mouth of the nozzle 25 and is operable by means of a control button 36.

Liquid fuel is -supplied to the heater from a reservoir 38, which may be either the oat bowl of the l engine carburetor or a separate auxiliary reser- The fuel is drawn from the reservoir 38 through a conduit 40 to a carbureting device 42 where the fuel is mixed with the proper amount of air to form 'a combustible mixture which is fed 'to the combustion chamber.

At the side of the combustion chamber I0 is located an igniter chamber which communicates with the combustion chamber through a large port 48. The igniter is preferably a coil of high resistance wire which may be electrically heated to incandesence and thereby ignite the mixture of liquid fuel and air passing through the ccmbustion chamber. The combustion chamber is partially closed by a slightly porous refractory reigniter plug 52 which has passageways extending therethrough for the iiow of the products of combustion.

The air from the passenger compartment of the vehicle is circulated past the heat radiatingfins 24 by means of a fan 54 driven bya motor 56. A suitable switch mechanism 58 is mounted adjacent the end of the radiator 20 and is arranged to be controlled by the button 36 and Vby Aa strip of thermostatic bimetal 50 which is in heat conducting relationship with the radiator. This switch mechanism and its method of operation is more f ully disclosed and claimed in my aforesaid application, Serial No. 120,524. It will sufce here to say that the switch is operable when the control button is pulled outwardly to open the valve 34, to close a circuit connecting the igniter mentary vertical section mounted upon the dashboard of a vehicle, and illustrates the engine carburetor in elevation.

The heater comprises generally a combustion chamber .l0 formed in a casting l2 which is secured to a back plate I4. The latter is connected by brackets I6 to the dash I8 of the vehicle. A

radiator 20 is secured to the combustion chamber forms means for compensating for changes in the 5 both the fan motor and the igniter are opened.v

As thus far described, the heater is disclosed in my aforesaid applications. 'I'he improvement of the present invention relates particularlyto the provision of 'means for admitting additional air to the intake manifold of the engine whenever the heater is in operation.

To provide for automatic adjustment of the in the fitting 28' threaded in the end of the combustion chamber casting l2. A Bowden wire |06 is secured to the end of the stem extension |02 and has its other end attached to a lever of the heater, ,the valve stem 06 has'an extenwish to include within the scope of my invention all such modifications and variations which will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the mounted upon the engine carburetor H0. The

lower arm I|2 of the lever |08 normally rests against a fixed stop H4 on the carburetor H0 and itself forms a stop for the throttle valve lever IIS, the adjustment screw H3 of the latter normally resting upon the upper surface H2 of the lever |00. t r

With this construction, it will be apparent that when the knob 3B is pulled outwardly (to the left), to initiate the operation of the heater, the Bowden wire will ,likewise be pulled to the left and thereby swing the lever |08 counterclockwise 'through a relatively small angle, thereby slightiy opening the throttle valve. In this way, the idling speed of the automobile engine is automatically raised whenever the heater is in operation, while, -when the heater is not in oper-.- ation, the idling speed is that which is normally attained by proper adjustment of the throttle valve stop. While at normal `idling speeds, the admixture of the-.gases of combustion from the heater to the charge fed to the engine cylinders may cause the engine to voperate erratically,

when the idling speed is increased, the'gases of.

combustion 'from the heater will form a sufficiently smaller proportion of the mixture fed to art.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. In an automobile having an internal combustion engine provided with a carburetor, a

' heater having a control element, a throttle valve,

by said control element to shift said stop and,

the engine cylinders that the operation of the` j engine will not be noticeably impaired thereby.

It will thus be apparent that whenever the heater is in operation, the engine carburetor cannot be adjusted to 'a position in which the engine will not idle properly. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that with different types of engine carburetors the adjustment to increase the proportion of fuel in the combustible mixture supplied by the carburetor to the engine, may be changed in different ways. It will be understood that, in its broader aspects, my invention resides in making a suitable adjustment in the engine carburetor controlling means to compensate for the gases of combustion fed to the intake manifold of the engine during the period that the heater is in operation.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be readily understood Iby those skilled in the art that variations may be made in the construction disclosed without departing from the basic features of my invention. I therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise construction disclosed, but

ing an internal combustion engine provided with a stop for limiting movement `of said throttle valve toward closed position, and means operated prevent movement of said throttle valve to its closed position.

2. In a heating system for an automobile having an internal combustion engine provided with a throttle valve controlled carbureting system and employing a heater of the internal combustiontype exhausting its products o combustion into the intake manifold of the engine, the comtroi the operation of the heater, a stop to limit the degree of closing movement of the throttle valve of the engine carbureting system, and

means actuated by said manually operable con'- trol element effectively to change-the position of said stopin a manner to prevent closure of said throttle Valve 'to its Anormal idling position.

3. In a heating system for an automobile having an internal combustion engine provided with a carburetor having an idle adjusting throttle valve stop, an internal combustion type heater having means for conveying the products of combustion therefrom to the intake manifold of the automobile engine, a manually actuated element for controlling the operation of said heater, and A means operated by said manually actuated element, when the latter is moved to'a position to render said heater operative, to change the idle adjusting stop in a manner to prevent movement of the throttle valve to its normal idling position.

l 4. In a heating system for an automobile hava throttle valve, a carburetor, and employing a heater of the internal combustion type exhausting its products of combustion into the intake manifold of the engine; the combination of a manually operable element to control the operation of the heater, a lever to limit the degreeof closing movement of the throttle valve of the engine carbureting system. and a Bowden wire connection between said manually operable control element and said lever effective to change the position of said lever in a manner to prevent movement of said throttle valve completely to its normal idling position.

- HENRY J. DE N. MCCOLLUM; 

